A

Absolutism

The idea that there is always only ONE absolute shared frame of reference or view of reality. For example, global ledger consensus systems treat the shared ledger data as the absolute truth of the system at all times.

Agent

An entity operating with agency. A human or software agent makes decisions outside of the holochain code.

Author

The agent who originally created the information on their source chain / author chain.

B

Blacklist

A list of nodes that are blocked for attempting to propagate invalid information.

Blockchain

An architecture used by Bitcoin, Ethereum and many cryptocurrencies to decentralize maintenance of a global ledger of data.

C

CALM

Consistency As Logical Monotonicity. (see Monotonicity)

CAP Theorem

A theorem describing the limitations of sharing stateful data across a network. CAP stands for Consistency, Availability, Partition Tolerance. Consistency means that data requested from two parts of the network has the same value at the same time. Availability means that data can be requested and retrieved immediately from any part of the network. Partition Tolerance means that gaps in network connectivity do not break Consistency or Availability. Consistency and Availability are both possible while the network has no Partitions but real world networks are frequently partitioned. (see Eventual Consistency and PACELC theorem).

Ceptr

Short for Receptor. The distributed application and communications framework that Holochains are one small part of. See Ceptr.org for more information.

Chain Entry

A unit of data added to an agent's source chain.

Consensus

In the context of decentralized systems, it is the agreement among the nodes about the state of the system.